1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to information access. More specifically, aspects of the present invention relate to displaying selected information prior to secure logon to a computer system or any data source.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable computer continue to alter people's use of information. Prior to the portable computer, people would jot down meetings in a paper calendar. Now, people rely on a calendaring program to alert them to their next meeting. One downside to storing a person's calendar in a portable computer is the delay in booting up the machine. In some situations, one would have to wait a few minutes before a system would permit access to the calendaring program. In some operating systems, this delay is compounded by the need to log into a secured system to access the meeting information. Thus, users commonly would keep detailed calendars in their computers and print out a copy of the day's schedule to be taken with the computer for quick access to meeting information.
Personal data assistants (PDAs), in contrast, provide quick access to calendars and other information. The quick access to information is also a detriment of PDAs in that a user is left with no secure way of authenticating himself to the PDA. Because of the less secure nature of PDAs, users are reluctant to keep sensitive or personal documents on PDAs but instead keep them on the portable computers. Further, the meeting information is only as relevant as last synchronized with the user's primary machine. Thus, computer users show up to meetings with both a portable computer and a FDA.
FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 illustrate these issues. FIG. 3 shows a system of the typical PDA. Here, an insecure data storage 301 stores and sends information to applications 302-304. A user is reluctant to store anything that is sensitive or personal (for instance, company confidential documents or credit card numbers).
FIG. 4 shows a conventional, secure login system. It includes an insure area 401 (pre-login), a secure area 402, with divider 403. Here, a user (after pressing the control, alternate, and delete keys simultaneously) is provided with a username and password query window. Other techniques are known for secure logins. After authenticating the person to the system, the system crosses divider 403 into the secure area 402. While in the secure area, the user may access applications 406-408. Notably, none of applications 406-408 is available on the insecure side 401 of divider 403. The only access to applications 406-408 is by logging into the system.
FIG. 5 shows a conventional computer process for accessing calendar or other information. A system may be in a variety of different power off modes. First, the system may be completely shut down. Starting up can take from 15 seconds to 3 minutes to boot up. In other situations, the system may be in a standby state. Stand by states are becoming increasingly popular among users who hop between meetings as completely powering off then booting a cold machine involves significant time (a few minutes on average). A standby state stores system information in memory, thereby only taking a few seconds to resume from standby.
Referring to FIG. 5, a system 501 is in a powered off state (standby, for example). A user presses a power button. The system starts up at time 502. At 503, a user is presented with the opportunity to login. No other option is available for the user. Next, the user activates a security sequence to force the system to provide a secure login window. Other techniques are known in the art. The system next provides (in less than a second) a login window 505. The user starts entering his password at time 506 (taking about 10 to 20 seconds to do so). Next, the user is logged in and starts to access information relating to his next meeting at time 507 (which can take 10 to 30 seconds). There are three effective states for this example: user not logged in 508, username and password being entered 509, and user logged in 510.
Some computer systems (for example, late model HP/Compaq computers) permit a display of next meeting information based on a cold boot (not from standby). This approach appears only as a BIOS operation, not once the operating system has been loaded. However, as more people use a standby state of a computer, this approach will not provide quick access to next meeting information.